On May 18, the "Beautiful China Journey" column of the ecological civilization edition of Guangming Daily published "This Blue Sea and Blue Bay Can Be Approached Again", focusing on the new area's continuous promotion of the protection and construction of beautiful bays from the three aspects of blue bay, comprehensive management and control, and relying on green and gold, and exploring the path of transforming "lucid waters and lush mountains" into "golden mountains and silver mountains", writing a new chapter of high-quality development of harmonious coexistence between man and nature.
Guangming Daily, May 18, 2024, page 9
Details of the report
This blue sea and blue bay can be approached again
【Beautiful China Journey】
Located on the coast of the Yellow Sea and Jiaozhou Bay, Qingdao West Coast New Area, the ninth state-level new area, has a coastline of 309 kilometers and 2,129 square kilometers of land area and 5,000 square kilometers of sea area, giving it a unique and romantic coastal style.
Walking along the winding coastal plank road, looking at the blue sea and blue bay, and the sand gulls soaring, it is hard to imagine that it was once difficult to get close to the sea here because of the large and small farms and the staggered care sheds.
Since 2016, Qingdao West Coast New Area has taken the lead in carrying out the blue bay remediation action in the country, by continuously promoting the protection and construction of beautiful bays, strengthening the comprehensive management, systematic management and source management of the ecological environment of "cities, bays and islands" coordinated by land and sea, and vigorously promoting the development of marine industry agglomeration, while focusing on promoting the protection and restoration of marine ecosystems, writing a new chapter of high-quality development of harmonious coexistence between man and nature.
The blue bay shows its true face
The sea is clearly in front of you, but it takes a long time to walk past it - this is the daily life of Xiao Shengjin, a villager in Taixitou Village, West Coast New Area, Qingdao many years ago. "The seaside is occupied by small farms built by fishermen, and there are also caretaker sheds built around it, so if you want to get close to the sea, you have to 'overcome obstacles' all the way." Xiao Shengjin recalled.
"In the past, there were phenomena such as illegal construction and illegal mining of sea sand on the seaside of the new area, blocking the way to the beach, and the 'offshore is not close to the sea' made the citizens miserable." Zhu Ke, who used to be the deputy director of the Blue Bay Remediation Operation Command Office in Qingdao's West Coast New Area, said with emotion.
In 2016, Qingdao West Coast New Area began to implement the Blue Bay remediation action around the six major tasks of demolishing illegal buildings, clearing the shoreline, transferring projects, repairing slow roads, planting greenery, and protecting culture.
The demolition of farmers is a major difficulty in action. "I've been dealing with farming for half my life, and the pond is being demolished, isn't this cutting off my way of living?" Liu Zhenpeng used to be a big farmer in Xuejiadao Street in the new district, and he was once very resistant to the demolition policy.
In order to reduce the impact of demolition and reconstruction on people's livelihoods, Qingdao West Coast New Area has taken a series of measures: giving adequate compensation to farmers and other coastal operators, and actively guiding and supporting everyone to transfer to employment; Reserve a wharf to provide fishermen with a more convenient and safe environment to go to sea; Supporting the development of tourism and broadening the channels for increasing income......
"After the Blue Bay remediation starts, projects in the new area must consider the impact on the coastline and marine ecology before planning approval. Despite the many restrictions, the quality of the projects is higher, and everyone has taken a fancy to the development of the ecological improvement. Liu Liang, who was the head of the demolition and relocation support department of the Blue Bay remediation operation, said.
On the weekend in Phoenix Mountain Park, there are many tents in the camping base, and the faces of the citizens are full of comfortable smiles. "In the past, it was planned as a high-end resort hotel, but considering that the project would destroy the original coastline environment and block the public's view of the sea, we terminated the construction and demolished it according to the procedure to build the current ecological park." Zhu Ke said.
It is reported that since the launch of the remediation action, the new area has cleaned up a total of 130 kilometers of coastline, demolished more than 6 million square meters of aquaculture ponds in the sea area, and nearly 2.2 million square meters of green area, and the blue bay has gradually revealed its true face.
Comprehensive management and control has "Skynet"
"Secretary Xu, what about patrolling again?" "Yes, just watched a lap!" In late spring and April, there were many people running along the Wind River in the morning, and Xu Qiang, who was also an early riser, was patrolling the bay for inspection.
As the head of the bay, Xu Qiang patrols the bay once a week, mainly responsible for garbage cleanup, water quality monitoring after rain, and control of sewage discharge into the sea and the bay.
"Once, when I was patrolling the bay, I found that the river near the estuary of the Wind River was turbid, so I quickly took a photo and uploaded it to the intelligent bay patrol system app." Xu Qiang said that after receiving the message, the system immediately contacted the drainage company, and after tracing the source, it was found that a sewage pipe was damaged, resulting in sewage overflowing and discharge to the sea.
If we want to do a good job in managing the coastal line, we must do a good job in managing the rivers that enter the sea. According to statistics, there are 46 large and small rivers in Qingdao West Coast New Area, including 20 rivers entering the sea. Pollution of rivers that crisscross the bay will inevitably affect the water quality of the bay.
"The new area adheres to the overall planning of land and sea and the co-governance of rivers and seas. In the bay, the bay chief is responsible for pollution prevention and ecological restoration; On land, the river chief coordinates with urban management, water conservancy and other departments to ensure that the water quality meets the discharge standards. Tian Xiangdong, Secretary of the Party Group and Director of the West Coast New District Bureau of Qingdao Ecological Environment Bureau, said.
According to Tian Xiangdong, there are currently 19 town-street-level bay chiefs like Xu Qiang, and 1,507 district-level, town-street, and village-level (community) river chiefs.
But although the bay chief system is good, it is impossible for the bay chief to be by the river all the time. What happens if there is an emergency pollution situation? In the Ecological Law Enforcement Intelligent Supervision Command Center of the West Coast New District Bureau of Qingdao Ecological Environment Bureau, the reporter found the answer. In front of the big screen, the staff called up the real-time monitoring screen, and the water quality data and water conditions in the protection areas of different water sources were clear at a glance.
"Through the ecological environment intelligent remote sensing supervision platform, we can carry out intelligent supervision of drinking water sources and river (sea) sewage outlets, and at the same time carry out drone accurate aerial photography inspections from time to time, collect on-site photos and videos and other data of sewage outlets, so that black and odorous water bodies and illegal sewage discharge behaviors have nowhere to hide." Bao Deqiang, head of the first business section of the Qianwan Environmental Management Office of the West Coast New District Bureau of the Qingdao Municipal Ecological Environment Bureau, said.
In Bao Deqiang's view, innovating the smart ocean management and control model is equivalent to weaving a "blue sky net" of comprehensive marine management and control, which not only improves the efficiency of law enforcement, saves manpower and material resources, but also greatly reduces the blind spots of supervision.
Under the comprehensive policy, Lingshan Bay, located in the West Coast New Area, was rated as the first batch of beautiful bays in the country, and all 30 kilometers of coastline have been built into a public seaside and pro-coastline, with water-friendly trails, viewing platforms, rest stations and visual corridors, etc., forming a set of "Lingshan Bay Model" for bay renovation with policy guidance, long-term supervision, scientific and technological support, and public participation.
Relying on the green to give birth to "gold" brings many surprises
Towards evening, the calm and vast sea is gilded with the afterglow of the setting sun, and the sea breeze blows gently and the reeds sway...... Located on Lingshan Island, Qingdao West Coast New Area, everything is so refreshing.
As the country's first "carbon-negative island", not long ago, the accounting results of Lingshan Island's ecological product value were released: it was estimated that the GEP (total ecological product value) of Lingshan Island in 2022 would be 594.7445 million yuan.
"As an important part of the ecological resource rights and interests index, the accounting results will be used to carry out property rights transactions, accumulate funds for the innovative development of characteristic ecological industries, expand and extend the industrial chain and value chain of ecological products, explore the operation and development path model, and also provide a new model for the value realization mechanism of ecological products in the field of marine islands in Shandong and even the whole country." Li Feng, Secretary of the Party Working Committee and Director of the Management Committee of Lingshan Island Provincial Nature Reserve, introduced.
Where does such a high value of ecological products come from? "In addition to promoting the transformation of household clean energy heating, we are also actively carrying out projects such as the pilot of the carbon emission reduction incentive mechanism, the 'zero entry into the island' of fuel vehicles, and the full coverage of solar street lighting, so as to gradually reduce carbon emissions, increase carbon sinks, and achieve independent carbon negative." Li Feng said that the next step will be to permeate all aspects of island rural revitalization with the concept of continuous carbon reduction and carbon negative, so that the islanders can truly feel the surprise changes brought about by carbon negative and value conversion.
Also effectively opening up the transformation path of "lucid waters and lush mountains" and "golden mountains and silver mountains" is Tangdao Bay National Wetland Park, which is across the sea from Lingshan Island. It is reported that the carbon sequestration capacity of soil, vegetation and water resources in this 1,300-hectare wetland should not be underestimated, and the cumulative reduction of carbon emissions is 720,000 tons.
"After these emission reductions are verified by the state, they can be traded in the carbon market. Based on the current price of the carbon market, the bank calculates the loan amount based on the forward income right of the wetland carbon reduction as a pledge. Huang Xiaolong, deputy general manager of Qingdao West Coast Tourism Investment Group Golden Phoenix Scenic Area Management Co., Ltd., revealed that as the operation and management of Tangdao Bay Wetland, the company received a low-interest carbon sink loan of 20 million yuan in 2022.
"After getting the loan, we will mainly use it to clean up and remediate the garbage and wetlands in the sea area, and some of them will be used to upgrade and transform the shoreline slope protection, embankment, sidewalk slabs, amusement facilities, etc., and in 2023, a total of 5,000 square meters of embankments and slope protection will be repaired, and 10,000 square meters of greening will be improved." Talking about the usefulness of the money, Huang Xiaolong said.
By improving the ecological environment in exchange for funds, and then feeding back the ecological environment with funds to continuously improve the ecological environment, Qingdao West Coast New Area has embarked on a green, low-carbon and high-quality development path that relies on green and "gold". Not only that, the new area is also the first batch of districts and cities in China and the first in Shandong to be approved to carry out climate investment and financing pilots, and the country's first natural carbon sink research institute has also landed here. At the 2023 Qingdao Forum of the East Asia Marine Cooperation Platform, the new area offset 821 tons of greenhouse gases that could not be reduced in the activities with local marine carbon sink projects, achieving a "zero carbon forum".
"We will continue to focus on the green and sustainable marine ecological environment, fight the battle of clear water in depth, create a water ecological environment with 'smooth rivers, clear water, green banks and beautiful scenery', support high-quality development with a high-quality ecological environment, and write the practice of a new area where man and nature coexist in harmony." Tian Xiangdong is full of confidence in this.
(Reporter Liu Yanjie Correspondent Tao Wenwen)
(Editor: L, this article is published and produced by West Coast, from Gua Guangming Daily, please indicate the source for reprinting)